The invention disclosed herein is an improved mount for a dish antenna that is located at an earth station for receiving television or other high frequency signals from geostationary satellite transmitters arranged about the equator at 22,245 miles from the surface of the earth in what is known as the Clarke orbit.
There are two basic types of earth station mounts for satellite dish antennas that are in widespread use. One type is the polar mount which uses a vertical post as the main support for the dish and for the mechanism that facilitates angulating the dish toward the Clarke orbit on an hour axis and a declination axis. The mount also constrains the dish axis to stay aimed at the Clarke orbit when the elevation angle (look angle) is changed to track from one satellite to another. In cases where the prior art polar mounts are located in an open yard, it is customary to set the lower end of a post in a hole and use the hole as a form for casting concrete about the post. A permanent installation results. This is the simplest type of installation. It allows using the mount as received from the manufacturer. However, when the only available place to locate the dish antenna, for example, is on a flat roof, a pitched roof, the peak of a gable roof or the vertical wall of a building, unique hardware is required to support the post. Every installation is different so it is impractical for manufacturers to try to supply a practically infinite variety of hardware. So the customer-installer is burdened with the task of obtaining the specialized hardware that is required to support the post.
The other presently popular type of dish mount is the so called azimuth-elevation (Az/El) mount. It requires adjustability of the dish about two axes, an azimuth axis and an elevation axis. The aiming mechanism for the dish must also be mounted on a dedicated base which is usable by itself for locating the dish antenna on ground in an unobstructed yard but requires specialized hardware for installation at a variety of locations such as those previously mentioned.